1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a hose fitting fixing construction for piping. A hose fitting fixing construction of this invention may be employed when detachably installing a hose assembly to an automobile body.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A hose fitting fixing construction employing a hose fitting, which comprises an engagement portion and a sleeve, has been disclosed as a retainer for retaining an intermediate portion of a hose in Japanese Examined Utility Model Publication (KOKOKU) No. 6310/1984.
As shown in FIGS. 18 and 19, the hose fitting fixing construction employs a hose fitting 200 comprising a cylindrical engagement portion 210 and a sleeve 220 extending from the engagement portion 210 in the axial direction. The engagement portion 210 has a flange portion 211 and a clip groove 212. After a hose 102 has been inserted into the sleeve 220, the sleeve 220 is crimped to fix the hose 102 therein. Then, the hose fitting 200 is inserted into an installation hole of a bracket 400 at the engagement portion 210 disposed opposite to the sleeve 220. After the flange 211 has been brought into contact with the bracket 400 and positioned, a spring clip 500 is placed in the clip groove 212 to hold and retain the bracket 400 with the flange 211 and spring clip 500.
However, when assembling the above hose fitting fixing construction, the spring clip 500 should be placed in the clip groove 212 with one hand while pressing the hose fitting 200 onto the bracket 400 with the other hand. Thus, the assembling operation should be done with two hands. Work efficiency of the assembling operation in a limited work space has been bad because the assembling operation should be done with two hands and size of the spring clip is usually small. Man-hour requirement has been also increased because high dimensional accuracy has been required for machining the clip groove or the like. In addition, when detaching the hose fitting 200 from the bracket 400, the hose 102 fixed in the hose fitting 200 should be pulled out of the bracket 400 after removing the spring clip 500. Thus, the detaching operation has been cumbersome.
Another hose fitting fixing construction has been known, in which a flange of a hose fitting extending from a sleeve in a radial direction is fixed to a bracket with a bolt and a nut. This hose fitting fixing construction allows easy installation and detachment even when a hose is fixed. However, it is a hard work to assemble the hose fitting fixing construction with a bolt and a nut in a limited work space, and it is impossible to install the hose fitting fixing construction by snap-action.